IRS Tax Season to Open January 31

A recent press release from the Internal Revenue Service announced their plans to open the 2014 tax filing season on January 31. The press release from the IRS also encouraged taxpayers to take advantage of Free File or e-file methods in order to receive the quickest refunds.

Wait for End of Month

The IRS has warned people that they will not begin processing any of tax returns before the opening date, so there will be no advantage to filing before that date. Because of the government closure, the IRS was forced to back off their original date of January 21. This year’s date is one day later than the 2013 date of January 30.

This new date allows the IRS an adequate amount of time to work out potential kinks in the new tax processing systems. The system saw trouble last October following the shutdown of the federal government. IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel was quoted as saying, “The late January opening gives us enough time to get things right with our programming, testing, and systems validation. It’s a complex process, and our bottom-line goal is to provide a smooth filing and refund process for the nation’s taxpayers.”

Because complex tax laws and codes change each year, the systems must be annually updated to reflect those changes. Around 90% of IRS operations were reported closed during the government shutdown, delaying some of the progress on those updates.

Filing accurate and complete IRS tax reports will allow people to avoid the need for future debt negotiations that result from incomplete filings. The IRS asks taxpayers to be complete and thorough. While the April 15 tax deadline will remain as per usual, taxpayers can request a six month extension if need be.

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